House of Flesh by Bruno Fischer

It was horror writer David Bischoff, writing in Jones and Newman's excellent overview volume Horror: Another 100 Best Books who first turned me on to Bruno Fischer's House of Flesh (1950). In his essay, Bischoff mentions that House of Flesh is a "Gothic novel for males," reveals that it is his favorite "shudder pulp horror" story, and tells us that this little novel surprisingly sold over 2 million copies in North America alone. The edition that I read is the hard-to-find original Fawcett "Gold Medal," but I'm very happy to see that the fine folks at Blackmask have released a new edition for a 21st century audience, as House of Flesh is an exciting page-turner that should please most readers... and not just males. While not exactly horror per se, it does contain some gruesome elements, and can be said to be more of a noirish tale with decidedly shuddery overtones.
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